Live CurtisZMWeather Lightning

Live lightning detection data below is powered by a Boltek Lightning Detector located on site.
Map below is refreshed automatically every 30 seconds.

Page will display LIVE data only when there is active weather.

This data should not be used to make decisions involving the protection of life or property.

About the lightning detector

The lightning detector is a
Boltek StormTracker PCI
system. The picture at the left depicts the antenna (black box, above) and the PCI card to analyze the data coming from the antenna. The software to further analyze and plot the data is
Astrogenic NexStorm
.

Strikes per minute counter. A counter that shows how many strikes are detected per minute. This counter will display different counts depending on which display mode is selected..

Lightning statistics information.

StormTracker and LD-350 mode - Strike types

+CG

Positive polarity cloud to ground strike

-CG

Negative polarity cloud to ground strike

Â±IC

Intra-cloud strike, any polarity

LD-250 mode - Quadrant distribution of lightning

If StormVue NGX is configured for LD-250 then no discrimination analysis of strike types is performed. Instead a Quadrant distribution table will be shown where the amount of lightning occuring in each of four sectors is displayed.

N-E is the north-east quadrant (001Â°-090Â°), S-E is south-east (091Â°-180Â°), S-W is south-west (181Â°-270Â°) and N-W is north-west (271Â°-360Â°).

Expanded statistics

Percent

The percentage of total detected strikes for a specific strike category (or quadrant in LD-250 mode) and the currently selected time frame

Totals

Shows how many strikes in each category (or quadrant) has been detected for the currently selected time frame

Trends

Trend arrows indicate how the strike rate trend is changing over time. If the strike rate for a particular category is increasing then the arrow will point upwards, if it is decreasing then downwards.

If there is no significant change in the strike rate then the arrow will point right.

In LD-250 mode there is only a single trend arrow representing all categories of strikes.

Change

This is the trend change in numbers for the currently selected time frame.

The Strike Rate Graph visualizes the trend for the currently selected time frame. If strikes are categorized there will be three trend lines, otherwise a single trend line is drawn.

Display mode is an indicator showing the currently selected mode. To change mode use the Declutter button.

Map control panel allows you to change certain items relating to the map display.

Strike age controls how much old strike data is shown. The available range is 5 to 60 minutes. Default setting is 15 minutes.

Map zoom lets you zoom in and out on the map. You can also use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom. The available zoom levels and the unit of distance measurement (kilometers or miles) will depend on how the web site owner has configured his StormVue NGX system.

Declutter button cycles through different display modes. The currently selected mode is reflected in the Display mode indicator.

Declutter display modes

0. Unfiltered

All strikes are shown

1. Clusters

Only strikes that are determined to be part of a well defined storm cell are shown

2. Cloud-ground

Only cloud to ground strikes are shown

3. C-G Clusters

Only cloud to ground strikes that are determined to be part of a well defined storm cell are shown

4. Density

Shows densities of strike detections. For color mapping refer to the legend. Due to grid resolution variations the density fields may appear slightly different in the respective map zoom levels.

5. Storm Cells

Only well defined storm cells are shown. If a new lightning strike related to a specific storm cell is detected, the storm cell on the map will alert you of this by briefly flashing a lightning bolt or similar animation.

Declutter modes 2 and 3 are not available if StormVue NGX is configured to run in LD-250 mode. Declutter mode 5 is only available with real-time data and will not work during replay of past activity.

User options panel contains three buttons that will open certain windows when clicked.

Report window contains the current TRAC report which is generated by NexStorm. This is a text only report containing detailed statistics about each thunderstorm that is currently being tracked.

Alarm window enables you to set up your own criteria based alarm

Status window displays information about the data feeding system and date and time (local time) of last data update.

Replay control enables you to replay the last 60 minutes of lightning data. Replay is not available in Declutter mode 5 - Storm Cells.

Network panel displays the status of network communications between StormVue NGX and the server hosting the data.

RX R/T consists of two indicators. The first indicator will flash briefly in blue color when StormVue NGX attempts to read data from the server. If there is an error the second indicator will indicate this by turning red for approximately a second. Occasional errors are normal but frequent errors could indicate a problem on the server or with your Internet connection

Stale time shows the time in seconds since the last data update. The amount of staleness will depend on how the web site operator has configured his StormVue NGX data feed. If the feed is continous real-time then Stale time will seldom be more than 10 seconds. If Stale time exceeds 300 seconds (5 minutes) this indicator will instead show "OFFLINE", indicating that there is no ongoing data feed.

Strike Symbol Legend and Strike Density Mapping panels are there to help you interpret the information displayed on the map. Different legends will be shown depending on which display mode the user has selected and which mode of operation StormVue NGX is configured for.

In StormTracker and LD-350 mode, CG is an abbreviation for Cloud to ground strike while IC means Intracloud strike. The sign prefix denotes strike polarities. "Unk" are strikes of unknown type.

In LD-250 display mode the symbol legend illustrates how the strike symbol size varies with time, from new strikes to old.

If Density display mode is selected (Declutter lever 4) then a color bar representing the varying density colors ranging from low to high will be shown instead.